Nature lovers got a late-spring treat Saturday  a trek through fields of knee-high eastern gama grass, black-eyed Susans, New Jersey Tea and dozens of other Kansas wildflowers in full bloom.

About 100 people joined Kansas University researcher Kelly Kindscher at Akin Prairie southeast of Lawrence for the annual Wildflower Walk.

During an hourlong stroll, Kindscher pointed out numerous examples of the prairie’s 219 plant species, including 20 grasses.

The tour, which started with a crowd of about 25 in 1994, has grown each year, Kindscher said.

“It is a great opportunity to educate the public, and the ever-increasing numbers of people that come each year shows the increasing demand for open land,” he said.

Kindscher has noted that Douglas County was once 93 percent prairie and now is less than 1 percent.

Tom Akin and his children, Linda Renner and Larry Akin, donated the 16 acres of prairie to Kansas Land Trust in 1994, in memory of his wife, Dorothy Akin, who died in 1989. Tom Akin, 89, has lived on the land since he was 3 months old.

“I wanted to be sure it was kept a prairie,” Tom Akin said. “And I knew I wasn’t going to be here to guard it, and Kansas Land Trust seemed to be the answer.”

Akin’s conservation easement was the first for Kansas Land Trust, which has served the state since 1990. KLT now has 12 conservation easements, which are legal agreements between land owners and a land trust that limit a property’s uses to preserve its natural state.

Akin decided to keep the land open to the public so that it could enjoy the same wildflowers his family has enjoyed through the decades.

Many of Saturday’s walkers were repeat visitors. Jeanne Klein, Lawrence, said she enjoyed listening to Kindscher’s stories about native plants and took a little bit of his knowledge home with her.

“I’m interested in what native plants here would grow best in my home garden,” she said. “It’s interesting to find out what native plants can handle the drought so I don’t always have to be out in my garden watering.”